Tomorrow, at 11am AEDST (that’s midnight GMT), V8 Supercars will make “one of the most significant announcements in the history of the sport”, which is something “years in the planning and is certain to surprise”.

I did hear rumours a few months ago of Mercedes joining, I can’t remember anything actually coming out of that but I imagine it would definitely be a new manufacturer, latest speculation seems to favour Chrysler.

“NISSAN is set to be a shock inclusion on the V8 Supercars grid next year with the powerhouse Japanese manufacturer to announce tomorrow it will be taking the fight to Holden and Ford.

In an historic inclusion which V8 Supercars claim will bulletproof the future of the sport, Nissan have agreed to re-join the series in 2013 in a move which will inject hundreds of thousand of dollars into the sport and place a wedge between the iconic battle between Holden and Ford.

The bombshell entry will also give several lowly placed teams the ammunition to take on the likes of Holden backed team Vodafone, with the manufacturer to pull out the cheque book in a bid to upset their manufacturing rivals.

Made possible by the Car of the Future program headed by Holden legend Mark Skaife, the coup has been three years in the making.

The Kelly Racing Team will tell Holden they are defecting to the Japanese company.

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News Limited also understands the announcement, to be made by V8 Supercars and Nissan tomorrow at Crown Casino in Melbourne, will be the first of many.

Several other manufacturers, including Chrysler, have been in talks with the fast growing series and are also expected to join the Aussie bred fight.

Both Holden and Ford have welcomed the new competition with Nissan’s inclusion likely to help address the uneven split which this year saw 17 Commodores taken on 11 Falcons.

Holden backed driver Jamie Whincup won the series.

Nissan were last in the series in 1992, with the manufacturer ironically supporting Skaife, the man who helped court them back after a 20 year absence.

Car of the Future has helped make Nissan’s inclusion possible with a host of control parts to be used next year.”

There has been a lot of talk about a new manufacturer joining. But some – like Garry Rogers – are openly talking about it when the wording of the statement from VESA implies that this is something that they want to reveal on their own terms, so I can’t imagine they would be happy with Rogers letting the cat out of the bag early.

But it could be something bigger than a new manufacturer. V8 Supercars is getting increasing coverage in America; there’s an American race scheduled for 2013, and more broadcasts of live races on American television. So with all this talk of Chrysler coming in, perhaps they are bringing some riends to the party: I could see the announcement accompanied by an American team with American drivers. Tony Cochrane – VESA’s answer to Bernie – has predicted more international drivers. Since he’d be at the forefront of the negotiation to get an American team racing here, it’s not very difficult to predict the future when you have been the one shaping it.

If this Major announcement is not a new manufacturer there will be a lot of disappointed people

Why does it have to be the announcement of a manuacturer? When the Car of the Future is introduced in 2013, there are going to be a lot of spare cars lying around from this year, since a lot of the front-running teams will build their own for 2012. But none of the cars used in 2012 can race in 2013, so there will be a whole lot of spares lying around, even when some are sold to the Development Series. This announcement tomorrow could be the establishment of a sister series in the United States, using the old cars until team can build their own chassis, with the calendars tweaked so both have a final race at Bathurst.

Nissan would be a logical choice

There has been talk that it will be Infiniti entering the series instead of Nissan, since Infiniti are apparently coming to Australia in 2013.

I just hope they run the GT-R, although it’s highly unlikely considering it doesn’t come in a 4 door version at the moment.

It won’t be the GT-R.

The Kelly Racing Team will tell Holden they are defecting to the Japanese company.

If this new manufacturer is joining the Kellys, then they might as well play Russian roulette with a semi-automatic. I can’t think of a worse marketing strategy short of launching a new car, calling it the “Fidelity” and having Tiger Woods sell it.

Exciting times indeed! I thought that it would be most likely to be Chrysler to be honest, but getting Nissan to commit to joining the series is quite a coup.

I’m putting my “Nissan Marketing hat on” for a second, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that Nissan currently make a V8 four door saloon do they? I know that the Falcon’s and Commodores currently running in the series have as little in common to their “road going counterparts” as I have with an olympic athlete, but don’t manufacturers like to pretend that the race cars are based on something in their current range?

I thought that it would be most likely to be Chrysler to be honest, but getting Nissan to commit to joining the series is quite a coup.

I’ve heard a rumour that Hyundai will join in 2013 as well, with an announcement to come in June once they have decided which car to use. Meanwhile, Garry Rogers has openly admitted to talks with Chrysler, and thinks they’re deadly serious about entering. So we could have as many as five manufacturers in 2013.

Yes. The Ford-Holden rivalry is pretty much dead. There’s a few die-hard fans out there, but for the most part, nobody really cars about it much. The rivalry can’t really sustain the series any longer, anyway – both the Falcon and Commodore are losing market ground to other makes. And as soon as anyone shows a bit of talent, Holden show up with their cheque book. They bought James Courtney for his number, after all.